


All these things and more...

by bigcityschemes



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Holidays, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-23
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-05 20:41:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12801963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bigcityschemes/pseuds/bigcityschemes
Summary: “Hi, my name is Jace and I need a fake fiance for the holidays. Yes, I said fake fiance. I’m looking for someone who will pretend to be my future spouse to impress my family and not ruin Christmas. You will be paid handsomely for the duration of the time. Must be willing to agree to a background check. Please message for further details."





	1. Chapter 1

    “You’re breaking up with me?!” Jace looks across the table at his fian- _ex fiancé_ in disbelief. “A week before Christmas?! Are you shitting me right now?”

 

“I’d appreciate it if you weren’t so loud about it.” Jonathan leans down closer to the table to whisper, looking around them at the other patrons eating and watching. The candlelight dances across his face and makes him look like a villain.

 

    All Jace can do is stare at him. He can’t believe this is happening and all over nothing. He replays the conversation in his head to see where it went wrong.

 

“I just don’t feel like we want the same things. I need someone who is going to support me and my goals.” Jonathan shoots him a sympathetic look and it only makes Jace’s blood boil.

 

    “ _You’re goals?!_ What about my goals? I can’t just leave my business and move to Philly with you so you can make partner. All of our friends are here! I have family here!”

 

Jonathan just sighs, dabbing his mouth with the cloth napkin. “This is exactly what I am talking about. I need someone who is willing to see the bigger picture and will stand next me. You’ve shown that you’re not willin-“

 

    “This isn’t a business agreement Jonathan.”

 

He raises an eyebrow. “Isn’t it? Isn’t that basically what marriage is?- but regardless of what it is or isn’t I feel like this isn’t the best arrangement for either of us. You might not see it now but you will.” Jonathan pulls his stupid expensive black leather wallet Jace got him for his birthday and lays out a couple hundreds on the table for the bill and the tip before rising out of his chair gracefully. “I’m sorry it had to end this way, truly I am.” It almost looks like he’s going to lean over and kiss him like he used to but Jace is thankful he doesn’t. “Have a good night Jace.”

 

    Jace is stunned as he watches him walk away. Once he’s past those doors he feels like he can breathe again. _What the hell just happened?_ \- And the panic sets in. He was going to marry that man. He had their whole future planned out to the white picket fences and 3.5 kids and a dog and _omg_ he’s going to have to tell his mother! On Christmas. That he was dumped. That because he didn’t want to move, he now was no longer getting married and was going to have to show up on Christmas fiancé less and hear his mother go on and on about it being such a disappointment and _ugh._

 

Jace moves his untouched food aside and lays his head on the table. “This is so stupid!”

 

***

 

    “So just like that?” Maia tucks her feet under her when sits on the couch next him. “And it’s over?”

 

“Just like that.” Jace slouches in defeat. “I can’t believe it.”

 

    “I can.” She huffs and shrugs when Jace shoots her a look. “I never liked that guy and I’ve told you that.” She points her ice cream spoon at him.

 

She’s right. She did tell him. As friend and business partner Jace trusts her with a lot of stuff; personal and work related. They say love is blind though. But no, Jace was blinded by the money. He knows that. Jonathan was a successful New York lawyer and was on his way to making partner with a very respectable firm.

 

    That’s not to say that Jace was the only one getting something out of it. With his last name, Jonathan was going to have plenty of doors open for him along the way. It was beneficial for the both of them, but now that’s over.

 

“I know.” Jace runs a hand over his face and through his blonde hair. “I’m just dreading telling my mother.” He lets out a weak laugh.

 

    “Then don’t.” Maia shrugs again and passes him the ice cream and the spoon. Mint chocolate chip, his favorite.

 

“Right. Just not show up with him and pretend like it never happened.” Jace wishes but no, he told his mom all about it and she was so excited and now he’s ruined Christmas. He digs the spoon deep into the tub and has decided to eat his worries instead.

 

    “Just say he couldn’t make it?” Maia tries but Jace just shakes his head. He doesn’t think that’s a good enough excuse. He appreciates her trying though.

 

Maia goes on thinking quietly next to him until she starts to chuckle to herself and shaking her head of curls.

 

    “What is it? What’s so funny?”

 

“Nothing.” Maia tries to stop.

 

    “C’mon tell me. I’ve been dumped and I’m sad.” He raises his ice cream as example and gestures to his sweatpants.

 

“Ok, but look I’m not saying it’s the best idea but it could work ok?” She prefaces.

 

    Jace nods in anticipation.

 

She chews on her lip in hesitation. “What if we found someone to be your fiancé?”

 

    He laughs. He laughs hard enough it makes him cough. “What?”

 

Maia just glares at him. “I mean what if we find someone to pretend to be your fiancé and you don’t ruin Christmas and you make your mom happy. Even for a little bit.”

 

    “You mean hire someone?”

 

“Yeah like an actor or something.”

 

    “Or something. They’d have to be really desperate to agree to something as dumb as this.”

 

Maia just glares again. “Or could use the money. Look-“ She un-tucks herself from the couch and gets his laptop off the kitchen counter. “All we gotta do is go to one of those dating sites and put out an ad and see what happens. What’s the worst thing that could happen?” She starts googling away and Jace feels like he should be apart of this process but this doesn’t mean he’s agreeing to this. Because it’s ridiculous.

 

    “This person could be a creep. They could try to kill me or steal shit or worse, not play along like they should and then the gig is up and I’m out some money.” Jace sighs.

 

“I could always get my friend Luke to do some background checks ok? He's a detective remember?”

 

    Jace remembers. Luke is a nice guy, tall and handsome. Likes his coffee black and two sugars.

 

He just nods and let’s Maia work her magic on the laptop. They find a decent looking dating site and work on the profile.

 

    “Ok so I pull up your profile picture from Facebook and place it here…” she runs commentary as she works, which is cute. “Because you look good here.”

 

“Pfss I always look good.” Jace smirks.

 

    “Yea yea well you look the best here that’s why it’s going to be your picture...two pictures so they know you’re real.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

    “And then we fill out some questions and now for the summary.” Maia scrunches up her face in thought for a moment. “Ok I got it.” She cracks her knuckles, stretching them out in front of her and gets to typing. “ _Hello-_ ”

 

    “Too formal.”

 

Maia groans and starts over, “ _Hi.”_

 

“Better.”

 

“ _Hi, my name is Jace and-_ ”

 

    “And I was dumped for Christmas.”

 

“If you keep interrupting me I’ll stop.” She threatens and Jace raises his hands in surrender.

 

    “Alright, alright. I’ll keep quiet.” He chuckles.

 

“ _Hi, my name is Jace and I need a fake fiance for the holidays. Yes, I said fake fiance. I’m looking for someone who will pretend to be my future spouse to impress my family and not ruin Christmas. You will be paid handsomely-_ ”

 

    “Handsomely? What kind of dough are we talking here?” Jace winces over her shoulder.

 

“I don’t know? Like 50 bucks a day?”

 

    “50? Mmmm that seems a little low.”

 

“I thought you were going to  complain about it being too high,”

 

    “No I think a 100 would be better, more incentive?”

 

Maia leans back to get a better look at him for dramatics. “A 100? You loaded and I didn’t know about it?”

 

    Jace rolls his eyes “It’s coming out of your paycheck, don’t worry about it.”

 

“It better not. And what did I say about interrupting?”

 

    “Right sorry.”

 

“Anyways- _you will be paid handsomely for the duration of the time. Must be willing to agree to a background check before hand. Please message for further details._ ”

    “Nice touch with the background check stuff.” Jace nods.

 

“Thank you.” Maia beams and saves the summary to the profile.

 

    “Now what?”

 

“Now we wait and see if there’s any contenders.” Maia shrugs and pushes the laptop further on the table so they can watch it.

 

    Jace rubs his hands together in nervousness and claps them. “I think we’re going to need some alcohol for this part.”  


	2. Chapter 2

Jace wakes up to a ‘ _Bing!’_ coming from his laptop and a headache from the drinking and a little bit from crying, but mostly from drinking. He swears. He rolls off the bed with a groan and pads across his studio apartment and over to where the computer still sits on the coffee table.

 

“Mm-turn it off.” Maia mumbles and flips over on the couch so she’s facing the back instead of the sun.

 

    “Working on it.” Jace rubs the sleep out of his eyes and sits in the open space on the couch by her legs.

 

“Umph.”-Or so he thought. She scoots her legs over more to make more room for him.

 

    “Sorry.” He mutters. “What does the noise mean?” He runs a finger over the touchpad to wake up the screen.

 

“Means you have a message.” She mutters into the couch cushion. “Been going off all morning.”

 

    “What do I do?” He stares at the red notifications like he’s about to cut the red wire to a bomb.

 

Maia lifts her head and glares over her shoulder. “Open them.”

 

    “You’re such an angel in the morning.” Jace smiles at her grumpy face.

 

“Shut up and make some coffee, I’ll open them.” She squints at him and shifts so she’s sitting next to him with the throw blanket over her shoulders.

 

    “Alright geez.” He huffs out a small laugh but does as he’s told because hey, he could use coffee too. One would think they’d get tired of it since they’re surrounded by it at work, but no. If anything it makes them love it more.

 

“Girl, girl, girl, not cute, how do you feel about beards?” Maia scrolls through the messages and hollers at him.

 

    “Like an actual beard or the fake kind, to hide behind?”

 

“Actual.”

 

    “Depends.”

 

“He’s not that cute, never mind. Plus I don’t think a fancy uptight lawyer like Jonathan would have a beard.”

 

    “You’re right. I trust your judgement.”

 

“As you should.” Maia mumbles more to herself and doesn’t think Jace hears her, but he hears all. “Do you think you could convince everyone that Jonathan was a girl this whole time?”

 

    “No.” He chuckles and pours them both coffee and fixes them how he knows she likes it. Which is basically as much sugar and cream he can fit into this tiny cup. His on the other hand is simple: two creamers, two sugars.

 

“Oh hang on. I know him!” Maia shouts excitedly. “Oo thank you.” She accepts her cup when Jace rejoins her on the couch and forgets for minute what the excitement was about.

 

    “Who?” Jace peers over her shoulder to get a look at the screen.

 

“MM!” Maia swallows her sip and points at the picture. “That’s Simon!”

 

    He tries to remember why the name sounds so familiar but his brain is still asleep.

 

“Simon.” Maia repeats like he’s supposed to remember. “We dated.”

 

    Oh. “ _Oh_! Right, Simon. Was in a band.” It’s all coming back to him. He remembers Maia talking about him, but they never got to officially meet.

 

“Right! Exactly! He was great.”

 

    “If he was so great, why did you break up?”

 

“We decided we were better off as friends and then you know, me and Bat.” She shrugs.

 

    “Oh, so sorta like us?”

 

Maia laughs. “No, nothing like us. That was one time.” She holds up a finger. “And never again.”

 

    “Right, sure.” Jace smirks because he knows it annoys her. “Anyways, he’s cute.” He gets another look at the picture and definitely agrees with himself that he is in fact cute and that his brain is fully awake now. He’s got that nerd kind of hot with those glasses and the fact that he’s in a band is even hotter, but Jace has to focus. This is business. Simon can be hot all he want but can he pretend to be Jonathan?

 

“Sooo cute.” Maia blushes a little. “I wonder what he’s doing here.” She opens the box and scans the message real fast. “Ok, this is good. He’s interested in meeting up to talk in person. That’s good.”

 

    “Good?”

 

“Yea, and I trust him. This is perfect! Plus Luke knows him too, oh my god, this is so perfect.” She hits him excitedly on the shoulder, but he’s not really sharing her enthusiasm. Which she can tell. “What? Don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet on me on this.”

 

    Jace sighs and feels like he has to do something so he stands and paces in front of the coffee table to think. He is getting cold feet. It’s one thing to just go along with it because he felt sad and desperate last night but it’s another to commit to a... _lie._ That’s what they’ll be doing to his family, lying. He doesn’t feel too good about that.  

 

“Look Jace, I’m not going to force you or talk you into doing this.” Maia breaks the silence after watching him pace a couple times. “But if you’re going to do this, Simon is our best option. I don’t know why he’s on here or why he would agree to this but I trust him. He’s a good person and he’s not going to try and screw you over.”

 

He lets that sink in for moment. It’s disappointing his mother now or later he supposes. “Ok, message him.”

 

    Maia’s face lights up and Jace hopes he’s making the right decision. “You’re not going to regret this.”

  
  


***

 

    They agree to meet at the café since it’s convenient and easy. Plus, it gives Jace an edge to be in his own territory; makes him feel a little more comfortable about this whole situation. The café isn’t that busy today, which he’s thankful for and also thankful that Maia offered to mind the store today so he can take care of business.

 

 **_J &M’s Coffee Place _ **started out as a small cart off the side of the street. Back in those days it was just the ‘J’, but then he met Maia who was a frequent customer and also neighborhood bartender and the rest as they say is history. Now they rent a corner space with four walls and Jace couldn’t be more proud of how far they’ve come.   

 

    Jace looks up from the black abyss of his coffee cup and scans the place to see if Simon has shown up yet and maybe had missed him, even though he parked himself at a table near the door. The table is also next to the window and his favorite spot in the whole café because he can watch the people passing by.

 

    He eyes a messy crop of brown hair and glasses walking through the doors and scanning the area like he’s looking for someone, and yup that must be him.

 

When Simon’s eyes finally land on him, his eyes go big in surprise. He heads over to him with a shy smile and takes the empty seat across from him. “Wow, your picture doesn’t do you any justice. I mean- you look great in pictures but also in real life.” He winces and tries to recover, but once the word vomiting starts it just doesn’t stop. “You know Maia texted me all about this and at first I thought it was weird how she knew but then she explained and now I realize that you must be the _J_ in **_J &M’s_ **, and isn’t it weird how we’ve never actually met? But Maia talks about you all the time so it kinda feels like I know you in a way and I come here all the time and-“

 

    “Whoa!” Jace chuckles and mimes time-out with his hands. “Is there an off button?”

 

Simon winces again and adjusts his jacket uncomfortably. “Sorry, I’m just a little nervous. I’ve never really done anything like this before.”

 

    “Like pretend to be someone’s fiancé?”

 

“Yea, I mean no, I mean yea? Look, my best friend was all like ‘ _you should start dating’_ and signed me up on that website and then I find your profile and what was in the profile and now we’re here. Let’s just say that it’s not exactly what I expected to find on a dating site, but I’m not complaining.”

 

    Jace contemplates what he’s going to say next. He had a monologue prepared, but once Simon started going that all went out the window. He’s also now distracted because Simon’s nervous rambling is kind of endearing and cut- no. He has to stick to the plan. This is strictly business. He’s got to stay focus and ignore the butterflies waking up in his stomach. That’s just because he’s nervous too...mostly. Probably. “So why did you message me? Why do you want to do this?”

 

Simon shrugs. “I could use the money.”

 

    Jace eyes him for any tells that are weird or red flags that he can’t be trusted or has a hidden agenda, but he seems sincere and Jace is really good at reading people. And it’s not just because he’s cute. “So just that? No hidden reasons or sad story why you’d spend Christmas with a bunch of strangers, pretending to be someone you’re not for money?”

 

“Nope.” Simon pops the P and flashes him a warm smile- and _whoa,_ that’s a nice smile. It makes the butterflies lose their minds and yea, they gotta cut that shit out. “I promise you, nothing weird ok? Strictly business and I’m even agreeing to a background check, although I talked to Maia and she said she was going to ask Luke to do it which is a bonus because he’s sort of like my uncle/dad in a way…?- I’ve just known him for a really long time and again, weird, cus I know you know him and yet there’s this phenomenon of us never having met.”

 

    Jace raises an eyebrow, “Right so anyways...have you ever acted before? Do you think you can pull this off?”

 

“Pfss, yea. Probably. Did a couple plays in elementary- best tree number 3 around.” Simon jokes with a shrug, but Jace doesn’t give him the satisfaction of even a smile (though he wants to). All business. Simon sobers up and changes his answer. “Yea, I think I can do it. Can you?”

 

    “That’s not important, are you ok with 100 a day?”

 

“It’s not? And um yea, that’s awesome.”

 

    “No it’s not, just play your part and I’ll play mine ok?”

 

“Ok. So, where are we doing this?”

 

    “My mom’s place is upstate and we’ll only stay for a couple days, is that ok?”

 

Simon thinks it over. He would be going out of the city with a random stranger for money, which is sketchy, _bbuuutttt_ Maia and Luke know him so maybe it’ll be ok. Plus Jace doesn’t give off any creeper vibes, just a little standoffish but Simon understands that. The guy did just get dumped and put an ad out for a fake fiancé, so a little desperate too, but so is Simon although for different reasons and that reason being the money. “Yea, sounds good.”

 

    “How soon can you leave?”

 

“Um....now? Whenever?”

 

    “How about we meet here tomorrow morning.” Jace chuckles and scribbles down his number on a napkin and slides it over to him. “Bring nice clothes...do you have contacts?-And maybe do something with the hair. Jonathan is a lawyer.” Jace gestures to pretty much all over him. He doesn’t have a problem with how Simon looks, just the opposite, but he needs to look like a bigwig.

 

“Right. Lawyer. Gotta look the part.” Simon chuckles and sends him a warm smile. “I’ll text you.”

 

    “And I’ll send you some details.” Jace gets up to leave, and Simon follows suit. He’s got to pack and get ready for their trip. They stand awkwardly for a few minutes not really sure how to leave or say goodbye or even what to do with their hands. “So anyways…”

 

“Right. Ok, yea. I’ll see you later?” Simon chuckles nervous, running a hand through his hair and gestures towards the door. “I should go.”

 

    “Yea.” Jace nods and laughs and can feel a blush creeping on because this is so awkward and he’s so cute. He’s screaming on the inside.

 

Simon starts to walk backwards in an attempt. “Should probably pack or something.”

 

    “Mmhm, or something.” Jace contains himself. Simon nods in agreement and sends him a final smile and a wave goodbye before heading out the doors confidently.

 

Jace lets out a shaky breath and mutters to himself, “Fuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A comment on the recent livestream debacle (that no one asked for): What was said and done hurt and disappointed me. While an apology was issued shortly thereafter, and though it seemed sincere, actions speak louder than words and so only time will tell if he learned anything from this experience. Until then I will be doing my best to separate fiction from reality. I still love this show, it's characters, and this ship in particular and will continue to work on this fic till it's completion.  
> Take care and thank you so much for reading <3

**Author's Note:**

> Been watching a lot of Hallmark.   
> Thanks for reading!  
> Tags subject to change.


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